A Midwinter Fantasy - Leanna Renee Hieber [94]
Her heart thudded as she lined up to present her boarding pass. She did a mental audit of the health of her body. Apart from the hollow ache in her chest, she felt no discomfort. She glanced back at Vidar when she passed through the gate.
He shouted, “I’ll be right here.”
Sonja’s breath faltered as she followed the line through the boarding tunnel. She felt light-headed and part of her longed for pain, for any reason to stop her boarding. When she reached the plane door, an air steward smiled at her and checked her boarding pass, directing her to her seat. Then she stepped over the threshold.
A burning shaft of agony ran up her arm, arrowed along her limbs, burrowed into her chest and belly. The bag dropped from her fingers and she stumbled, collapsed. Someone shouted. Hands gripped beneath her arms. The heels of her boots bumped over the metal threshold as she was pulled back into the tunnel.
The reassuring sense of Vidar’s presence flooded her mind, blocked the pain. Strong arms surrounded her; then everything went blissfully dark.
Chapter Six
Sonja woke on a bed snuggled beneath a heavy quilt. Her head pounded and her body ached as if she’d been used as a punching bag. A rustle of sound caught her attention. She turned over warily and opened an eye. A log fire crackled, casting dancing patterns of light over a forest green sofa and honey-colored wood.
Where was she? She tracked back in her mind and remembered boarding the plane. Her breath hissed in as an echo of pain flashed through her. The ring had trapped her in Iceland. A gamut of emotions followed the realization: anger at Odin for daring to confine her, fear over what would happen to her now, but also relief that she had an excuse to stay with Vidar.
The sound of footsteps heralded Vidar’s approach from a small kitchen in the far corner of the log cabin. “You’re back in the land of the living.” He smiled down at her and placed a steaming mug on the nightstand before hunkering down beside the bed. “Hot chocolate with a nip of something to revive you.”
He bent his head, his dark bangs flopping over his face, and pressed a kiss on the back of her hand. Her breath rushed in, carrying the hot, spicy smell of Vidar mixed with the sweetness of chocolate.
“How long have I been unconscious?”
“Long enough for me to lug you back to my retreat and put you to bed.”
Her eyes opened a little wider when she realized she must be in his bed.
While Vidar fetched his own mug from the kitchen, Sonja sat and pulled her knees up to her chest. She tried to smooth the creases from her black tailored pants but gave up and drowned her sorrows in a blissful chocolate mouthful with a kick of alcohol. She held off reality for half a cup of hot chocolate, then the strangeness of her situation swamped her, and she returned her mug to the nightstand unfinished.
She spread her fingers, gazing at Odin’s ring. “How can I get it off?”
Vidar sat beside her and gently wrapped his hand around hers. “Forget the ring. There’s nothing you can do about it. My brother Baldur cut off his own finger to rid himself of the ring but it just appeared on one of his other fingers.”
Sonja shivered.
Vidar drew her hand toward him and kissed her knuckles. “Stay here with me, elskan mín.”
She stared around the tiny wooden lodge. The place was toasty and snug but little more than one room. Inside her head she’d sensed Vidar all her life, but moving in with him when they’d only known each other for a couple of days was crazy. Yet where else could she go? “I’ll be in your way.”
With a wry laugh, he cozied up to her. “No . . . you won’t.” His hand settled at her waist, and he eased her around to face him. “We’ve been together in mind and spirit for a long time. Our connection is strong.